


dragon

by mharris



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic, The Them - Freeform, i guess, kids being kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-29 23:04:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14483148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mharris/pseuds/mharris
Summary: Democracy amongst the Them follows a predictable pattern. Doesn't mean they don't try.





	dragon

Democracy amongst the Them starts off like this:

**An idea is suggested,**

    Today was a classic round of dragon slaying and knights, brought to the Them by Wensleydale's mother, who supplied Wensleydale with a book of classic fairytales in hopes he’d be a little more like a classic child. Mrs. Wensleydale would probably be proud to know that her son and his friends decided that dragon slaying sounded like a good way to pass time, and have decided to take it up like one takes up gardening.

**then, everyone gets a turn to talk,**

    "I think I might like to be the knight.” Wensleydale said.

    "I think that everyone might like to be the knight," Adam noted, kicking at a rock near his shoe, but in a restrained sort of way, to see if he could hit it while just casually swinging his foot.

    "I would request to be the dragon, please,” Pepper said, raising her hand.

    "That sounds fine and all, but then who will be the damsel we save?" Brian asked

    The other two boys looked pointedly at anyone but Pepper.

    "Oh, that's not what-- Pepper is the dragon then right?" Brian said. "But _then_ who is the damsel?"

    "Someone, I think, who would be good at being saved." Adam suggested, looking into the middle distance, and squinting. It was something he'd seen a detective do on a tv show that his mother watched. It made the detective look very serious, and contemplative. It made Adam look like he was squinting.

    "Oh, I guess I will," Wensleydale said with a shrug of defeat.

    "Who will you be Adam?" Pepper asked.

    "The fairy godmother sounds like a good bit," Adam said. "Fairy Godmothers have all that magic, and come in and save the day in the nick of time, right?"

    "That's true." Brian said.

    "Would you want to be the Fairy Godmother then?" Adam asked.

    Brian hadn't actually thought about that part, but, he supposed, Adam _was_ right about the magic.

    "Sure."

    "Guess I'm the knight then, Pep."

**the idea is attempted in good faith,**  

    "I can't believe you talked me into this." Brian said.

    "I don't know what you're talking about." Adam said, hefting his sword. (t was two sticks tied together with some old hemp lying around the quarry.)

    "Oh you do too," Brian said.

    "Less talking, more magic!" Pepper shouted from across the quarry.

    She was guarding Wensleydale, who was lying pretending to be under an awful curse that made him sleep forever. They hadn't even gotten to the dragon fighting bit yet but she was already out doing herself as a terrific dragon. Her growls and roars were top notch.

    Brian waved his magic wand (which was an old bit of metal piping that everyone agreed looked too cool to be a sword),and sprinkled his pretend fairy dust over Adam. (They immediately ruled out using actual dust, on account of the idea their mother's faces when they returned home.)

    "Oh knight, you will be brave, and with my magic, you will be invol- invlun- fire won't hurt you," Brian said, with little enthusiasm.

    Adam made a face at Brian's lack of enthusiasm, but held his sword high, declared the dragon as good as dead, and took off toward the castle.

**but then it turns hard;**

    "And now you have to kiss me."

    "What?"

    "A sleeping spell can only be broken by true love's kiss, you got the blessing of the fairy, you defeated the dragon, and now you have to kiss me to finish the job."

    Wensleydale was telling Adam the instructions out of the side of this mouth while still pretending to be sleeping. He was doing a good job of it, laid out on a bit of cardboard on top of a few pallets they had scrounged up. He looked right regal. But Adam just looked a little embarrassed.

    "That's not it," Adam said, but he was unsure of his answer, even as the words came out of his mouth.

    "I'm the one that read the book, wasn't I?" Wensleydale said, fully awake and looking at him now.

    "If that's what it says," Brian said from somewhere behind Adam, Pepper was dead on the ground somewhere to his right.

    Wensleydale laid back down and closed his eyes again, and settled back into his eternal slumber position. "Kiss me."

    Adam looked to the heavens, and took a single step. And then another. He was doing his very best to not look at anyone or anything. Kissing was a strictly Grown Up Thing that none of the Them wanted to touch. _Leave the Grown Up Things to the Grown Ups_ , Adam thought. He leaned down and placed a quick kiss on Wensleydale's forehead like his mother did when he was sick. Wensleydale's immediately opened his eyes.

    “You've saved me."

**decisions are made based on personal wants and needs;**  

    They wanted to try again. Pepper's performance was perfect, of course. She had done a great deal of roaring and died very dramatically, as a dragon should. But everything else needed polishing, they had thought. It was time to go back to the decision makingcircle. They all wanted to be the knight, even Pepper, who thought she wouldn't be able to do a better performance than what she had already done.

    "But we'll _need_ a dragon,"

    "Then you be the dragon," Pepper said.

    "Well, we can't _all_ be knights. Who would be be slaying, who would we be saving?" Adam said thoughtfully.

    "I'll just be the damsel again," Wensleydale said. "and everyone can take turns saving me."

    "That's not fair," Brian said.

    "It's just the damsel part," Wensleydale said.

    "Yeah, but if everyone else had to do other bits, someone else should be the damsel." Brian said.

    "Wait a minute, are you jealous?" Wensleydale asked.

    "No!" Brian said, but he had gone quite red in the face by this time. "I'm just saying, in the name of democracy."

    “This is a kingdom, not a parliament," Pepper said.

    "You know what I mean. Wensleydale should have to be something else too." Brian said, gesturing toward Wensleydale.

    Wensleydale puffed his chest out a little bit. "Come over here and make me." 

**and then, like all rules, it comes to an end.**  

    But the specific kind of end that the Them experienced was less like a political coup, and a lot closer to the Them tussling in the dirt somewhere. And unlike democracies, they pull each other up and dust each other off, and are still friends, despite differences. They work it out, and talk it over, and give it their all, not knowing that's exactly what democracies are supposed to be. 

    Brian made a great damsel, Pepper made a wonderful knight, Wensleydale was a particularly tricky dragon, and Adam thought he rather liked the idea of having magic.

**Author's Note:**

> Jealous and envious are not the same word though often used as synonyms. What should have been said here is 'envious,' but alas, that is not what the dialogue in the dialogue prompt said, and also, they're kids. 
> 
> This super wasn't important but the_more_you_know.gif


End file.
